Chlamydial bacteriophage: No Role in Acute Coronary Events?

BACKGROUND: A relationship betweenChlamydia pneumoniae infection and acute coronary syndromes has not been consistently found in published studies. It has been hypothesized that a bacteriophage-infected subset ofC pneumoniaemay be uniquely equipped to promote atherosclerosis and acute coronary syndromes through the expression of phage genes. METHODS: The authors performed a pilot case-control study of acute coronary events. Case and control subjects were characterized demographically and according to recognized coronary risk factors. These subjects also provided serum for the detection of antibody to the elementary bodies ofC pneumoniaeand antibody to the Vp1 protein coded by the phage. Bivariate and multivariate comparisons were performed using statistics appropriate for paired analyses. RESULTS: Antibodies toC pneumoniae, Vp1 protein or both were not associated with acute coronary events by bivariate or multivariate analysis. As expected, case subjects were significantly more likely to have hypertension, hypercholesterolemia or diabetes mellitus. CONCLUSION: The present study adds to a growing body of literature that does not support the hypothesized relationship betweenC pneumoniae(or a phage-infected subset ofC pneumoniae) and acute coronary syndromes.